From wheat to bread through the Gozo windmills

Abstract

Until recently the characteristic bare round towers of old windmills, together with the steeples and domes of our churches, were prominent features of the landscape of the Maltese Islands. The type of windmills which have survived in Malta were introduced during the time of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Lanfranco 1993: 60). They were usually sited slightly away from the village they served, on high or open ground, unobstructed by other buildings in order to make the most efficient use of the wind. In towns they were built on the highest part of the bastions to catch the mildest breeze for smooth operational performance and no building in their vicinity was permitted to rise more than one storey high (NAM, PW 1826). Windmills could not be operated in a high wind because this would cause great damage to the mechanism as well as to the structure of the windmill itself. On many occasions serious damage was caused to windmills by gales and electric storms and in some cases lives were lost. At the other extreme, on calm days, windmills were powerless. Millers would wait eagerly for days on end for a favourable wind. But when it came, a few sharp blasts into the "bronja" from the roof of the windmill, meant that the miller was summoning his clients to bring the corn to be turned into flour. The "bronja" is the triton-shell, better known as the trumpet-shell of which there are two species "Charania lampas" c. 50 cm. and "Charania variegata" c. 35 cm. Both are now very rare in our waters. Their pointed end or "calcarella" as it is known in conchology, was broken off and when blown in a trumpet-like fashion from the roof of the windmill, they produced a sound that echoed all over the village.